Snap: The Sunday Times Bestseller

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How do you take to the pathway of life when there are no longer any bridges to see you safely across? This book is on the Man Booker long list so I thought I’d give it a go, especially since it created a bit of controversy, being, I believe, the first crime thriller to ever make the Man Book finalist. Quick review: Val McDermid, we’re not mad because a thriller was on the longlist; we’re mad because it was a shit thriller. The characters are simply amazing, unique, some likeable, some flawed but all so vivid in their descriptions they could be standing right in front of you and although I don't like to imagine the police involved in the story as being your average and typical criminal investigators, they did make for interesting reading and made the story so much more intriguing. Snap is the best kind of crime novel - it gives you chills, it makes you think, and it touches your heart.

I’ve been watching its Goodreads rating drop steadily ever since the announcement, and I can’t help but to feel a bit sorry for it as it’s now being judged by so many people up against what are just objectively better books. Heavily pregnant Eileen Bright was riding in the family car with Jack, Joy and Merry ages 11,9 and 2 years old respectively. For some reason, Bauer doesn’t believe that emphasis or gravitas can be achieved without embellishing her sentences with excessive punctuation, italics, or some combination of the two. Salem’s Lot, and its child protagonist, made a “lasting impression” on her when she read it at the age of 12. Some Italian dialects are impossible for me, but then I’d say I’m more ‘proficient’ than ‘fluent’ so I was just curious if it was challenging for you even as a fluent English speaker.I also liked how the author gave the story some bright moments that made me smile in the midst of some tragic circumstances. Her mother’s scratchy signature had been roughly crossed out and on the blank side of the card was scrawled a new message. SNAP is a multi-layered, cleverly plotted crime novel with a varied group of unusual and unpredictable character types. The controversy has been around in being genre fiction (in this case) crime fiction and the contention against its its inclusion on a literary (as opposed to popular reading or genre based prize) has been that genre fiction is necessarily restricted by the tropes of the genre at the expense of literary ambition. Each archipelago has its own accent, some islands have an entirely different dialect than their neighbours.

He’s a fastidious, impeccably groomed straight arrow who’s always willing to help coworkers better themselves. And Marvel…well, the boy certainly spins a wild tale but how can he resist the chance to work a nice, juicy unsolved murder? The characters were brought skilfully to life, and although Jack's loss was difficult to witness, there was lots of light relief in the form of Reynolds and Marvel.Bauer has been an obsessive storyteller since she was a child, lying awake in bed and making up tales that she would pick up the next night. His mum says to him: ‘You’re in charge, Jack,’ as she walks away from the car, and three years later he’s still in charge, trying to keep all the balls in the air, everybody alive, hidden from the authorities, in this terrible house, which is now full of newspapers which his sister collects obsessively to try and find clues about his mother’s death.

Two such opposite characters --one, Marvel, a detective who was moved down to this small town after apparently something went wrong with a murder case he was involved in.I defy anyone to read Jack’s story and not be moved by his plight and fully understand the logic behind his behaviours. Detectives Marvel and Reynolds are investigating the robberies in the area and eventually they get involved with helping Jack look for his mother’s killer. I think it is an unusual book to be longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, as I understand it, but I like it! Jack starts to think more about his mother’s death, and he is filled with rage at the fact that his mother’s murderer was never caught. We then learn how these three storylines are related, though it takes a while for these plot threads in the book to converge.

This novel by Belinda Bauer reminds me of why I started reading thrillers just about three years ago. It's not that I am against including genre fiction, on the contrary, but this book does not have anything to say, it's just a solid mystery, a beach read.

Three years later Jack, now fifteen, is looking after his sisters since his Dad - unable to cope with the tragic event - leaves them home alone. Three years later, Jack is still in charge - of his sisters, of supporting them all, of making sure nobody knows they're alone in the house, and - quite suddenly - of finding out the truth about what happened to his mother .